Vol. 39, No. 1,  Spring/Summer 2001- "The Pennsylvania Geographer"

POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY OF DEVOLUTION IN THE AMERICAS:

THE CASE OF BRAZIL'S SOUTH

Eric K. Spears

Mercer University

And

H.J. de Blij

Michigan State University

Abstract

This paper explores the centrifugal forces that are present in the modernday federal state of Brazil. The study demonstrates how centrifugal forces are operating in South America's largest country and the effects they have on its economy. Successive Brazilian governments have tried to unify this country's territory and space economy throughout its 500-year history. More recently, global economic fluctuations and internal political dissention have encouraged a group of regional separatists to push for an independent country known as the "Republic of the Pampas" within the Brazilian South. However, it remains uncertain how the federal government in Brazil will respond to this and other issues.